Driving mechanism for reversely-rotatable elements.



A. I. HOFFMAN.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR REVERSELY ROTATABLE ELEMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 12. 1912.

1 ,1 59,767; Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. J. HOFFMAN.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR REVERSELY ROTATABLE ELEMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I2v I912.

1,159,767. Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0 WASHINGTON, D. c.

ADON JULIUS HOFFMAN, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR REVEBSELY-ROTATABLE ELEMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Application filed October 12, 1912. Serial No. 725,498.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADoN J. HOFFMAN, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Driving Mechanism for Reversely-Rotatable Elements, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description. 7

This invention relates to certain improvements in glove washing machines in the class set forth in my pending application No. 702,304, filed June 7, 1912, but refers more particularly to the means for intermittingly rotating one of the brushes in re heretofore been practised.

A further object is to provide simpl means for locking the lowermost brush a ainst rotation and also to permit it to be easily removed through the open upper side of thegvat when the upper brush and its supporting frame are rocked upwardly and rearwardly in the manner hereinafter described.

Other objects and uses relating to specific parts of the machine will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawingsFigures l and 2 are respectively a top plan and a front elevation of a glove washing machine embodying the various features of my invention. Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view through the upper portion of the machine taken on line 33, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the same machine showing the revolving brush and its supporting frame together with the counter shaft and gears mounted thereon, as rocked upwardly and rearwardly to permit access to the interior of the vat and lower brush. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view,

partly in elevation, of a portion of the bot-' said brush against rotation. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are detail sectional views of the driving gears for the rotary brush and means for shifting the relative positions so as to intermittingly reverse the direction of rotation of said brush. Fig. 9 is an end view of the clutch shifting device shown inFig. 3.

In carrying out; the obj cots-stated, an upright cylindrical vat 1 of sheet metal is mounted in and upon the upper portion of'a supporting frame '2 the desired distance from thefloor or other support-and'is provided with a conical bottom '3 having a central outlet .pipe 1' leading from its apex and provided with a normally closed valve 5' for controlling the discharge of water or other cleansing fluid from the vat. The top of the vat'is normally closedby'a circular cast metal lid 6-raised upon its upper edge or rim and provided with a pendant annular flange 7 fitting more or' less closely upon the periphery of the ring to prevent leakage of the cleansing fluid at this point.

A pair of coaxial circular brushes 8 and 9 of nearly the same diameter as the scribed. The upper'brush 8 is provided with a central hollow hub 12 having an angular opening 13- in its upper end for sliding interlocking 1 engagement with the lower angular end 14- of an upright shaft -15', the latter being journaled in V and extending some distance above a hearing- 16 on the center of the lid 6' so as to rotate freely thereon. The hub 12 is provided with a central cylindrical bore 01 socket 17' in which is fitted" with an easy sliding fit an enlarged circular hub 18 on the lower end of the angular shank -1%and cooperates with the upper end of the hub to limit the downward movement of the upper brush 8 and also to cause said'brush to be elevated upwardly with the lid when the latter is rocked from its normal position. The upper end of the annular portion -l4 of the shaft 15' abuts against the underside of the lid 16- to prevent upward movement of said shaft relatively to the lid. A. bracket 19- is secured to the top of the lid by any fastening means, as bolts 20, and is provided with a journal bearing 21, alined with the bearing 16, for receiving the upper end of the shaft l5-.

A mangle wheel or disk 22 is rigidly secured to the extreme upper end of the upright shaft l5- and engages the upper end of the bearing 21 to hold the shaft against downward movement relatively to the lid 6, said mangle wheel being provided with a circular series of radial bars or teeth 23- concentric with its axis of revolution and spaced apart to form intervening pins -24. alternating with the teeth 2$ to permit intermeshing engagement of a pinion 25. with the same teeth from either side of the disk for the purpose of rotating the upper brush intermittingly and alternately in reverse directions in the man ner presently described. This pinion 25 is secured to the inner end of a radial projecting flexible shaft, composed of sections 26 and 2T, which are connected to each other by a universal joint 28, the shaft section 26 being journaled in a suitable bearing -29--radially of and in substantially the same horizontal plane as the mangle gear -22 while the section -27 is movable vertically and is guided in an. upright slotted arm 30 on the. bracket 19-.

The upright slot, as 8l, of the arm. 30 through. which the shaft section 27 extends is in axial alinement with and. some distance to the inner side of the V ion 25 to move from a position above to a position below the mangle gear 22 and vice versa to mesh with either side thereof. That is, the portions of the arm -80- at opposite ends of the slot -3l form limiting stops to prevent undue displacement of the pinion from the gear and also to hold said pinion in mesh with either side thereof.

A portion of one side of the mangle gear 22 and adjacent portions of the teeth thereof are cut away to forma recess S2 opening from the periphery thereof and of suflicient, circumferential length to permit the pinion 25 to readily pass therethrough from one side to the other of the gear for intermittingly rotating said gear and upper brush in reverse directions at, each revolution of the gear, and, in order to accomplish this shifting movement of the and are substantially semi-circular, eachv having, a radius substantially equal tothe radial distance between the root of any one a of the teeth of the pinion 25 and opposite face of the conical stud --34 so as to hold the pinion in, mesh with the end teeth of the gear while traveling from the upper side to the lower side thereof through the opening or recess as shown more clearly in Figs. 6, 7 and 8.

Drawing means for the flexible s/Laft.Se.- cured to the outer end of the section 26 of the flexible shaft is a gear 35- meshing with a pinion 36 which is loose on a stationary stud -37, the latter being rigidly secured to a bracket 38 on, the adjacent side of the upper portion of the vat, -1-- and extends radially therefrom. A pulley -3)- is loosely mounted, upon the stud: 37- at the outer end of the pinion -3\$-- and adapted to be connected by a belt to any available source of power (not shown), the adjacent ends of the hubs of the pulley 39- and pinion 36 being provided with clutch members l0- for interlocking engagement to transmit motion from the pulley to the pinion, but are normally disengaged by coil spring r1 surrounding the stud -87- between the adjacent ends of the pulley and pinion as shown more clearly in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,

A shifting member l2 is loosely mounted on the stud- 37 at the outerend of the pulley 39- and is held against axial displacement from. the stud by a collar l3- which is rigidly secured to the stud. The outer face of the hub of the shifting member -l2- is provided with an automatically convexed rib *l% movable into and out of registration with a convex seat l-5-- in the adjacent face of the collar l3 so that, when the shifting member -4Q is rotated, the convex rib rides upon the face of the collar to one side of the recess for forcing the pulley 39-- endwise inwardly against the action of the spring l-l to engage the clutch members -fl:() with each other and; thereby lock the pulley to the pinion 36 for rotating the upper circular brush -S through the medium of the gear 2Qrpinion and flexible shaft sections 26-.- and -2-7. The periphery of the collar -43 is provided with limiting stops l6- adapted to be engaged by a disposed vertically in a plane substantially from the center to points some distance beyond the rear of the vat for the reception of radially projecting guide pins i9- on diametrically opposite sides of the lid 6 as shown more clearly 'in Fig. 3. These slots l-8 are disposed in a plane above the rim or top of the vat a sufiicient distance to permit the lid together with the upright shaft 15 and upper brush -8 to be rocked upwardly and rearwardly to the position shown in Fig. 4- or until the brush and lid assume a substantially vertical position edgewise.

The front ends of the slots asare coincident with the longitudinal center of the vat so as to hold the lid against forward and rearward movement when in its closed position. It will also be observed that the flexible shaft sections 26 and 27, carrying respectively the gear 35 and pinion 25 are mounted upon the lid and are movable therewith, thus disengaging the gear 35 from its driving pinion 36 as shown in Fig. l.

Operation-Assuming that the lower brush 9 is placed in operative position and interlocked with the stud -11 and that the gloves to be cleansed have been placed in a vat, containing a cleansing fluid,

the lid 6 being closed to bring the upper brush into cooperative coaction with the lower brush, said upper brush being movable vertically a limited distance along the angular shank 14 to accommodate this to the varying quantities of gloves which rest upon the lower brush. Now, by shifting the member it2 in one direction or the other from its normal position, the pulley 39 which rotates continuously will be forced into clutching engagement with the pinion 36, thereby permitting rotary motion to the gear '35, flexible shaft sections 26 and 27 and pinion 25. This pinion -Q5 is, therefore, rotated continuously in the same direction when the clutch members l2 are in engagement and will impart rotary motion to the upper brush 8 through the medium of the mangle gear 22 and shaft 15-, the direction of rotation of the brush depending upon .36, such release being effected by the position of the pinion 25 above orthrough the recess to engage the opposite side of the mangle gear thereby reversing the direction of rotation of the brush,-this operation being repeated at each revolution of the brush or as often as the recess 32 is registered with'the pinion 25. After the gloves have been thoroughly cleansed, the shifting member 4:2 may be again operated to release the pulley 39 from interlocking connection with the pinion the spring 41 after which the lid 6 and upper brush, carried thereby, may be rocked upwardly and rearwardly by means of suitable handles, shown in Fig. 1, until the lid is thrown to the rear of the vat and together with the brush stands in a nearly vertical position thus leaving the vat open for the removal of the cleansed gloves. If the first cleansing is not sufficient, the cleansing fluid may be drawn off by opening the valve 5 and a fresh supply of .clean or different fluid may be placed in the vat, the lid closed and the operation previously described repeated.

What I claim is:

1. In a glove washing machine, in combination with a rotary vertical shaft, a stationary horizontal shaft, a continuously rotating driving pulley and a pinion, both rotatable loosely on the stationary shaft and provided with cooperative clutch faces normally spring-pressed apart, means including a hand-piece operable at will to shift the pulley axially against the action of the spring to engage the clutch faces for driving the pinion, and mechanism driven by the pinion for driving the vertical shaft first in one direction and then in an opposite direction.

2. In a glove washing machine, in combination with a vertical rotary shaft, a stationary horizontal shaft, a continuously rotating driving pulley and a pinion, both rotatable loosely on the stationary shaft and provided with cooperative clutch faces normally spring-pressed apart, means on the stationary shaft including a hand-piece operable at will for shifting the pulley axially against the action of the spring to engage the clutch faces for driving the pinion, a gear meshing with and rotated continuously by the pinion when the clutch faces are on gaged, and cooperative connections between the gear and vertical shaft for. driving said vertical shaft first in one direction and then in an opposite direction.

8. In a glove Washing machine, in combination with a vertical rotary shaft, a stationary horizontal shaft, a continuously rotating driving pulley and a pinion, both rotatable loosely on the stationary shaft and provided With cooperative clutch faces nor- 1 inally spring-pressed apart, means on the stationary shaft including a hand-piece operable at Will for shifting the pulley axially against the action of the spring to engage the clutch faces for driving the pinion, a

15 gear meshing with and rotated continuously by the pinion When the clutch faces are engagged, and cooperative connections between the gear and vertical shaft for driving said vertical shaft first in one direction and then in an opposite direction, said gear and parts driven thereby being movable relatively to the stationary shaft to disconnect the gear from the pinion.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of September, 1912.

ADON JULIUS HOFFMAN.

Witnesses H. E. CHASE, EVA E. GREENLEAF.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

